1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote control camera having a remote control unit.
2. Description of Related Art
A remote control camera having a remote control unit which can remotely control a release mechanism of the camera is known. The operation which can be remotely controlled by the remote control unit in a known remote control camera is, however, only the shutter release operation.
Furthermore, in recent motor driven cameras in which the measurement of a brightness of an object to be taken, calculation of exposure values, control of a diaphragm, measurement of object distance, focus control, film winding, driving operation of a zoom lens, etc., are carried out by electronic circuits or an electric motor, to which electric power is supplied by a battery incorporated in the camera, it is necessary to minimize power consumption of the battery, since the camera does not work in the absence of the battery power. In particular, in a remote control camera having a remote control unit, as mentioned above, to make it possible for a photographer to remotely actuate the camera (shutter release), the power supply is always maintained ON during the remote control operation, resulting in a waste of battery power. Furthermore, when a photographer takes several pictures by remote control within a relatively short space of time, he or she does not usually turn OFF the power switch of the camera for each shot. This further accelerates the battery power consumption.
Furthermore, in a known camera having a built-in strobe, it is necessary to precharge a capacitor included in a strobe light emitting circuit in order to effectively emit strobe light. Even after the charging is completed, it is desirable to recharge the capacitor immediately before a picture is taken, due to the inevitable natural discharge which will occur to some extent.
It is necessary to carry out the strobe charging operation only when it is needed to avoid a waste of battery power. To this end, in a known electronic control camera, the capacitor is charged only when a predetermined requirement is satisfied.
The inventors of the present invention have, however, found that if such a strobe charging control system, as mentioned above, is directly applied to a remote control camera having a remote control unit, the strobe sometimes fails to emit strobe light when necessary.